One of the four pit bulls is in poor health, Mohawk Hudson director said

6:02 pm, Tuesday, March 31, 2015

One of four adult pit bulls that were seized from a U-Haul truck in Colonie Saturday at the Mohawk & Hudson River Humane Society on Monday Jan. 28, 2013 in Menands, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

One of four adult pit bulls that were seized from a U-Haul truck in...

Brad Shear, Executive Director, Mohawk & Hudson River Humane Society, takes out of a cage one of four adult pit bulls that were seized from a U-Haul truck in Colonie Saturday on Monday Jan. 28, 2013 in Menands, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

Brad Shear, Executive Director, Mohawk & Hudson River Humane...

Brad Shear, Executive Director, Mohawk & Hudson River Humane Society, takes out of a cage one of four adult pit bulls that were seized from a U-Haul truck in Colonie Saturday on Monday Jan. 28, 2013 in Menands, N.Y. This dog was clearly underfed. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

Brad Shear, Executive Director, Mohawk & Hudson River Humane...

One of four adult pit bulls that were seized from a U-Haul truck in Colonie Saturday at the Mohawk & Hudson River Humane Society on Monday Jan. 28, 2013 in Menands, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

One of four adult pit bulls that were seized from a U-Haul truck in...

One of four adult pit bulls that were seized from a U-Haul truck in Colonie Saturday at the Mohawk & Hudson River Humane Society on Monday Jan. 28, 2013 in Menands, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

One of four adult pit bulls that were seized from a U-Haul truck in...

Three of four adult pit bulls that were seized from a U-Haul truck in Colonie Saturday at the Mohawk & Hudson River Humane Society on Monday Jan. 28, 2013 in Menands, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

Three of four adult pit bulls that were seized from a U-Haul truck...

Two of the three pit bull puppies found mutilated and abandoned in Albany and now at the Mohawk Hudson Animal Shelter, Tuesday Sept. 11, 2012, in Menands, N.Y. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

Two of the three pit bull puppies found mutilated and abandoned in...

A three-week-old pit bull puppy with its left rear paw cut off, one of three puppies all mutilated in the same area rescued in Albany and now at the Mohawk Hudson Animal Shelter, Tuesday Sept. 11, 2012, in Menands, N.Y. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

A three-week-old pit bull puppy with its left rear paw cut off, one...

Two of the three pit bull puppies found mutilated and abandoned in Albany and now at the Mohawk Hudson Animal Shelter, Tuesday Sept. 11, 2012, in Menands, N.Y. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

Two of the three pit bull puppies found mutilated and abandoned in...

A three-week-old pit bull puppy, one of three, found mutilated and abandoned in Albany and now at the Mohawk Hudson Animal Shelter Tuesday Sept. 11, 2012, in Menands, N.Y. Smaller and weaker than the others, this puppy may not survive. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

A three-week-old pit bull puppy, one of three, found mutilated and...

Pit bull puppies, Pearl, left and her brother Hudson, relax after Hudson received his new prosthetic paw at the Hudson Mohawk River Humane Society headquarters Nov. 12, 2012, in Menands, N.Y. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Pit bull puppies, Pearl, left and her brother Hudson, relax after...

Hudson, left, and and Pearl, right, the pit bull puppies found injured by train tracks, at the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society to meet their new adopted families in Menands Wednesday Dec. 5, 2012. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

Hudson, left, and and Pearl, right, the pit bull puppies found...

Hudson, left, and and Pearl, the pit bull puppies found injured by train tracks, in the arms of their adoptive families, Richard Nash, left, of Schodack, and Susan Kittle of Poestenkill, at right, at the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society Wednesday Dec. 5, 2012, in Menands. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

Hudson, left, and and Pearl, the pit bull puppies found injured by...

The Kittle family, from left, Jordan, 14, Seth, 17, Sean and Susan, of Poestenkill with their new dog Pearl, one of the pit bull puppies found injured by train tracks, at the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in Menands Wednesday Dec. 5, 2012. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

Susan Kittle of Poestenkill with her family's new dog Pearl, one of the pit bull puppies found injured by train tracks, at the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in Menands Wednesday Dec. 5, 2012. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

Susan Kittle of Poestenkill with her family's new dog Pearl, one of...

Picture of Hudson and Pearl together. Families said the dogs will take puppy classes together & visit each other regularly. (BRYAN FITZGERALD / TIMES UNION)

Picture of Hudson and Pearl together. Families said the dogs will...

Volunteer Deb Wagner of Averill Park carries "Hudson", one of the puppies found injured by train tracks, into the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in Menands to meet his new adopted family Wednesday Dec. 5, 2012. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

Volunteer Deb Wagner of Averill Park carries "Hudson", one of the...

"Hudson", left, and and "Pearl", the puppies found injured by train tracks, in the arms of their adoptive families, Richard Nash, left, of Schodack, and Susan Kittle of Poestenkill, at right, at the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in Menands Wednesday Dec. 5, 2012. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

"Hudson", left, and and "Pearl", the puppies found injured by...

Richard Nash of Schodack with his new dog "Hudson", one of the puppies found injured by train tracks, at the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in Menands Wednesday Dec. 5, 2012. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

Richard Nash of Schodack with his new dog "Hudson", one of the...

Rosemarie Nash of Schodack with her new dog "Hudson", one of the puppies found injured by train tracks, at the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in Menands Wednesday Dec. 5, 2012. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

Rosemarie Nash of Schodack with her new dog "Hudson", one of the...

Richard and Rosemarie Nash of Schodack with their new dog "Hudson", one of the puppies found injured by train tracks, at the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in Menands Wednesday Dec. 5, 2012. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

Richard and Rosemarie Nash of Schodack with their new dog "Hudson",...

Hudson gets his new paw
/ Times Union

After receiving his new prosthetic paw to Hudson, right with his sister Pearl, right stretches his legs at the Hudson Mohawk River Humane Society headquarters in Menands, N.Y. Nov 12, 2012. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Pearl, a pitbull puppy discovered injured in Albany. Her littermate...

Dr. Tom Bowerstock, right, fits Hudson for a prosthetic paw. Hudson was one of three puppies found Sept. 10 abandoned and emaciated near an Albany rail track. (Photo courtesy of Mohawk Hudson Humane Society)

Dr. Tom Bowerstock, right, fits Hudson for a prosthetic paw. Hudson was one of three puppies found Sept. 10 abandoned and emaciated near an Albany rail track. (Photo courtesy of Mohawk Hudson Humane Society)

Dr. Tom Bowerstock, right, fits Hudson for a prosthetic paw. Hudson was one of three puppies found Sept. 10 abandoned and emaciated near an Albany rail track. (Photo courtesy of Mohawk Hudson Humane Society)

Dr. Tom Bowerstock, right, fits Hudson for a prosthetic paw. Hudson was one of three puppies found Sept. 10 abandoned and emaciated near an Albany rail track. (Photo courtesy of Mohawk Hudson Humane Society)

The two surviving puppies during a press conference announcement of a $7,000 reward by The Mohawk Hudson Humane Society, Humane Society of the United States, Albany County District Attorney?s Office and Albany Police Department for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) who mutilated and abandoned 3 puppies to die on railroad tracks in the City of Albany, at The Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in Menands, NY Friday Sept. 14, 2012. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union)

The two surviving puppies during a press conference announcement of...

MENANDS — Four adult pit bulls that were found sick and shivering in the back of a U-Haul truck Saturday in Colonie are being cared for by the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society, though one of the dogs is in very poor health, the shelter said.

The Albany man charged with leaving the dogs in the truck in near-freezing temperatures, Anthony Walker, is the same man who was charged Jan. 14 with abandoning a trio of abused and malnourished pit bull puppies in September near an Arbor Hill railroad track.

Brad Shear, the humane society's executive director, said it was too early to tell whether the fully grown pit bulls were the parents of the puppies Walker allegedly abandoned. Shear said it was also unclear whether Albany police knew Walker had the adult dogs in his possession at the time of his Jan. 14 arrest in the earlier case.

For leaving the dogs in the cold U-Haul, Walker, 30, was charged Saturday with torturing and injuring animals, a misdemeanor under the Agriculture and Markets Law. For the "railroad puppies" incident, Walker was charged with abandonment of a disabled animal, also a misdemeanor.

Walker is being held at Albany County jail and is scheduled to appear Feb. 15 in Albany City Court. A court date for Saturday's arrest has not yet been set.

It's unclear how long the four adult pit bulls were left in the truck, but police said they had been there for an extended time.

Colonie police said Walker recently was displaced from a home in Albany and was receiving government assistance to temporarily stay at a Super 8 motel on Central Avenue, where the dogs were found in the truck around 6:30 p.m. Walker may have been staying at the motel since Thursday, Colonie Police Lt. Robert Winn said.

Shear said all four pit bulls seized Saturday were in poor health and that one female was "in very bad shape." The dogs were first treated at the Capital District Animal Emergency Clinic before being taken to the shelter.

In the railroad puppies case, police said Walker left three 3-week-old puppies near railroad tracks near the Ida Yarbrough apartments. One pup was missing two toes and another had a hole pierced through one of its paws. The third puppy died.

At first, officials believed someone may have nailed the puppies to the tracks. But after Walker's Jan. 14 arrest, police said "What occurred that evening does not appear to have happened the way it was initially portrayed." Citing the ongoing investigation, both police and the Albany County District Attorney's Office have not discussed the case or what they believed led to the puppies being abandoned and abused.

The two surviving puppies, Hudson and Pearl, were slowly nursed back to health. Hudson had to have his rear left paw amputated and was fitted with a prosthetic paw.

Both dogs, now about 5 months old, were adopted into separate homes last month.

Shear said it could take some time to bring the four adult pit bulls found Saturday back to good health and when, or if, they'll be available for adoption.